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Archive for Social Media Messaging

At this point, it’s safe to say that “The Daily Show” is an abject catastrophe. Since Jon Stewart’s departure and taking of the helm by Trevor Noah, the show has lost its caustic bite, its intelligent nuance, and the distinct brand of satirical commentary that it delivered—especially during election years—has been replaced with diluted, goofy lampooning.

Scathing, laugh-out-loud humor exchanged unceremoniously by lowest-hanging-fruit jokes and intermittent chuckles. It’s terrible. So many wasted opportunities during this election cycle. All amounting to wasted DVR space. This piece spells it out pretty well.

But even considering its host’s deficiencies, “The Daily Show” still employs some of the industry’s top writers and talent which attempted to buoy Noah during the show’s inevitable growing pains. As of yesterday, it appears they’re struggling, too.

After news of the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Texas’s law restricting abortion, someone on the social media staff sent out this ill-advised tweet:

Aside from being devoid of any wit or humor, the tweet simply lacked tact or taste. It’s indicative of the state of “The Daily Show” in under 140 characters. Sophomoric, simple, and glaringly deficient in any tone or substance. A once-revered comedic and political medium embracing the lowbrow and pointlessly offensive.

The show was rightly lambasted for it, and offered a non-apology apology. Instead of being sorry for poor attempts at being funny, I wish the show would apologize for ever letting Jon Stewart walk away from the anchor’s chair.

Maybe that clears up the projected purpose of the new-but-long-desired function. It’s to convey empathy, not disagreement. An awkward situation always presents itself when “liking” a post that isn’t positive.

As expected, there has already been some backlash after the announcement. In an age where cyberbullying is a serious issue, many wonder if the “Dislike” button will foster an online environment that promotes it. That’s why Facebook needs to tread lightly with this rollout, and cover all its bases so that a feature designed to show compassion isn’t used to display displeasure on photos or status updates.

This is great news, people. The coming death of Google Plus has been bandied about by tech media types since its initial launch “invite only” boondoggle. Conceived to create exclusive demand, from a user perspective it primarily created frustration and resentment. What kind of social network cuts its online teeth by being antisocial? The entire roll-out was a symptom of a greater engagement problem.

In their blog post yesterday, Google admitted that missteps were made with the social network.

“When we launched Google Plus, we set out to help people discover, share and connect across Google like they do in real life. While we got certain things right, we made a few choices that, in hindsight, we’ve needed to rethink.”

“Needed to rethink” is a nice way of putting it. Google is correct, however—they did get certain things right. The enhancement and expansion of Hangouts was a home-run, and the feature has become an important player in Google’s cache of online programs. It may be tough for a Silicon Valley titan to admit defeat, but in the case of Google Plus, the writing has been on the wall since the beginning.

Twitter has been highly scrutinized since their IPO, as share value has diminished and user enthusiasm has plateaued. Essentially, the social media mainstay is forced to walk the tightrope of “staying true to their platform” and introducing new—and profitable—features designed to motivate their user base and please their shareholders.

It’s not an enviable position. It’s the Crystal Pepsi of the tech industry.

Costolo, widely-regarded as one of Silicon Valley’s most impressive executives, never really had a chance. Once the company went public and ownership passed to shareholders, expectations were stratospheric. When growth did not match the rate and scale of direct competitor Facebook, the writing was on the wall. It’s a prime example of how cutthroat the boardroom of a publicly traded company can be. You’re beholden to your users—but mainly the board of directors.

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey will take the reins as interim CEO while an internal and external search takes place to find a “permanent” replacement. With the rapid turnover at Twitter, however, the lucky selection needs to realize that the big chair they’re assuming is already a hot seat.

The World Cup: According to Facebook metrics, The World Cup garnered the most social media discussion ever, with over one billion interactions regarding the event. There certainly wasn’t a shortage of online conversation stateside, as masses descended upon viewing parties throughout the country to cheer on the U.S. Men’s National Team.

Ellen’s Selfie: The “selfie heard ‘round the world” was a huge moment for social media in 2014. Ellen’s star-studded selfie at the Oscars, featuring the likes of Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper and Brad Pitt was retweeted over 3 million times in 24 hours. The news that it was virtually a commercial for Samsung diluted its impact a bit—but it was one of the most talked-about moments of the year.

#BreakTheInternet: Kim Kardashian’s NSFW photos from Paper magazine certainly generated a lot of conversation. I’m not sure it broke the internet, but for about a week straight it seemed each and every website featured the photos or commentary about them.

Leaks: 2014 was the year of the leak. From the release of celebrity photos to the recent hack-and-leak of Sony resulting in unreleased movies hitting pirate forums and private emails between execs and actors hitting the web, 2014 has made all of us rethink online privacy.

The Ice Bucket Challenge: 2014’s “Harlem Shake”—but for a good cause. Newsfeeds were consistently filled with friends and family dumping buckets of ice water over their heads in support of ALS research. The viral trend raised over $115 million.

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